A Terrible Idea
by TheMightyZan
Summary: Zevran Arainai is back in Antiva and making life hard for the Crows. He thinks he has everything figured out but the arrival of Lyna Mahariel makes him realize the past is still very much not behind him.
1. Chapter 1

_"It's too hot to do that, Zev."_

 _"I would argue that it is not nearly hot enough, cariño."_

 _"Argue all you like, it's still too hot." Lyna shoved at him halfheartedly as he slid his hands up and around her, then laughed as his fingers danced over her sides. "Don't you dare!"_

 _He smiled at the command and increased the pace as she squirmed beneath him, watching as her face flushed and her eyes squeezed shut. He leaned in closer, his nose barely escaping her chin as she flung her head to the side. "Perhaps if you say the right word, I might be persuaded to concede"_

 _She tried to reply, but only managed a strangled breathe before another fit of laughter overtook her. He watched, amused, as she fought him another moment before finally relenting, and sliding his arms around her back. "Ah, and now you are sufficiently sweaty, yes?"_

 _She slapped his chest even as she attempted to regain her breath. "Ass."_

 _"I do have a remarkably sexy one."_

 _He saw her smile at that, amused as always despite herself, and reached up a hand to push the hair from her face so he had better access to her. "Lyna, mi amor, you might not like this, but you are about to get a great deal hotter."_

 _The chuckle she answered with was cut off by his lips._

* * *

He blinked awake, disoriented for a moment as the smell of leather oil and soil, the smell of her, seemed to linger around him. Remembering where he was, he rubbed a hand over his face and groaned into his palm.

Every night.

Every night he dreamed about her, her flesh, her hands, her mouth, and every morning he woke up aching, straining, and nothing to satisfy it but his own hands.

He should have taken Nico up on his offer to stay last night after they had exhausted themselves, but… no. He never let him stay, he never let any of them stay.

They took up too much room.

They got too comfortable.

They didn't fit right.

Annoyed with his own thoughts, he pushed himself out of the bed and over to the water stand. Reaching into the tepid water he splashed it over his face and scrubbed it through his hair even as he turned his thoughts to the day. He needed to look into supplies, and he needed to send another letter to the Crows about a meeting… or maybe he just needed to kill another group to get their attention.

When the knock sounded on his door he called out to enter without looking back.

"Well now, that is a pleasant sight to see first thing in the morning."

He glanced back at the man who had entered his room then down to his own still bare self before smiling slightly. "Well, as you know, Nico, I do enjoy making someone's day more pleasant."

He watched the older man slide his gaze over him again before turning to the dresser where he had tossed his armor. "Did you just come for the show, or was there something you needed?"

He heard his friend stretch his long form out on the bed, and imagined a bright smile on his dark brown face. "Well, I had some interesting news, but I think I'd rather watch the show first."

Always happy to oblige such things, Zevran flexed a bit more as he dressed. Finally, he turned to settle on the bed next to Nico, he hands reaching up to start his braids. "Now, what is this news that had you seeking me out so early?"

"It is nearly noon."

"And I had a late night."

They grinned at each other a moment before Nico shifted to face him more fully. "Esta ran into an elf at the market this morning."

Zevran raised a brow and fished out his leather tie. "I would think she would run into several, yes? We are hardly uncommon."

The human smiled again and sat up. "True, but she did not know this one, and you know as well as I do that Esta knows everyone, even before they get here."

"So tell me about this mysterious elf, and why I should care."

"Well, according to Esta, she is Dalish, and overly friendly, and armed, and was approached by a known Crow while she was eating. They talked and it ended with her scowling and the Crow leaving, though Esta wasn't close enough to hear the conversation, and apparently this has happened a few times over the last few days. That's why she 'ran into her' a bit later."

"And?"

"And her name is Lyna, and she is apparently staying for "this and that" reasons, but why would the Crows be interested is the question."

Zevran had frozen as Nico spoke, his whole body tensing at the name. A Dalish elf named Lyna who the Crows would be interested in… No, there was no way she would be here. She was in Fereldan. She was leading the Grey Wardens.

He was up off the bed before he had even realized he was moving, and began strapping his daggers in place. "Where is she staying? Did Esta know?"

Nico stood from the bed and stretched, his brows lowering as he watched Zevran buckle on a boot. "Bettino's. Are you wanting us to go check her out then?"

"No! Ah…Heh… No, my friend." He finished latching his belt and moved to the door. "There is no reason to scare her off with a whole group falling upon her. I will go and speak to her myself. I'll see you later."

He left without waiting for a reply.

It wasn't hard sneaking past the large inn owner, and it wasn't hard picking the lock to her room. It was surprisingly hard, however, being hit in the face with her scent after so long just imagining it.

The room was relatively bare, not surprising since he knew that she moved light, but he did find a satchel of spare clothes and a pile of coins on the dresser.

She had never been good at handling money, or keeping it safe. It made him smile to see that that hadn't changed.

Then he remembered that he shouldn't be smiling. Not about anything to do with her. Not until he knew why she was here.

So he settled onto the bed, propped himself against the headboard, and waited.

She didn't keep him waiting long.

She was good. She had always been good, and when she came in and barely even glanced in his direction as she went to set her bags on the table, it was believable and well done. But he knew her; he remembered little things about her that she probably never even noticed herself. Her hair was a bit longer, there was a new scar across the ruddy tan of her cheek, and her mask was barely holding.

He stared at her profile, his hands clinching slightly into his armor. He could easily picture leaning up to grab her arm and drag her onto the bed, and all the things he would do once he had her there.

It made him angry that she could still have such a hold on his thoughts, and he used that anger to reply coolly to her calm statement of his name.

"Warden."

It was a dig, and a petty one, not using her name, but he didn't care. Part of him still wanted her to hurt. When she paused, only for a single moment, he knew he had. She handled it well though. She moved from the table and over to the water basin in the corner, and refused to meet his gaze as she searched out a cup.

"Do you want anything to drink? I have only slightly cloudy water and I just picked up some brandy." She nodded to the bags on the table even as she poured a cup of the water for herself.

"No."

"Well I do. I remember you telling me that the summers could be hot here, but I didn't realize the extent of it. I don't know how any of you step outside without wilting. No wonder the Dalish who do stop here are hostile."

He listened as she rambled and swirled her cup, her gaze steady on the movement of the water, but obviously she wasn't going to tell him anything without prompting.

"What are you doing here, Lyna?"

The question made the movement of her hand stop and he thought he saw her lips tilt up before she returned to the table and settled into a chair, her eyes finally coming to his. "I came to see you."

The statement threw him off, but he had enough years of practice to turn his surprise into little more than a raised brow as she turned to rummage through a bag.

"Did you not get my letter?"

"Oh, yes." She pulled out a fruit and set it on the table before standing and walking towards him, a note appearing in her hand.

He took it, and after a cursory glance recognized his own writing.

"I never took you for a coward."

Her statement had him looking back to her with a scowl.

"But I am assuming you must be one to send me a letter like that instead of telling me such things to my face."

His scowl deepened and he couldn't help that his voice became clipped as he replied. "I tell you I have decided I am not coming back to you, and that makes me a coward? I thought you would at least appreciate that I let you know. I could have as easily never sent you anything. I have a life here, I am giving the Crows second thoughts. Power. Freedom… Women…Men… I had no urge to return to a place as dreary as Ferelden. I have better things to do than hang onto the coat tails as an afterthought of a too busy warden." He felt his face harden even as he forced a stop to his spew of words. The sudden calm of her expression as she watched him make the struggle made him want to throw something at the wall.

She moved back to the table and sat in the chair again, reaching for the fruit and taking a large bite. After a few seconds of chewing, which gave him time to relax back against the headboard, she spoke. "I don't believe I said anything about us starting back with a relationship. Obviously you have no desire for it and I have no more urge to throw myself at someone than you do. I simply said I came to see you, I thought you might need some help with the Crows. I like to think we are still friends, of a sort, and I found myself with some free time. You probably remember that I hate being idle."

He did remember, just as he remembered the sounds she made when she woke of a morning, her arms stretching over her head and her eyes blinking sleepily at him. He shoved such thoughts away and gave a disbelieving laugh. "Free time? Since when does the Commander of the Grey Wardens in Ferelden have free time?"

"Never if I remember correctly, but I didn't tell him that before I left. I didn't want him changing his mind."

"He?"

She nodded and bite into the fruit again then studied it a moment. "Yes, his name is Leon… very Orlesian."

"You… you stepped down?"

"Yes."

He blinked at the simple answer, his mind scrambling to understand this new information when it seemed so very unlike something she would do.

He settled for, "Why?" because everything else seemed too complicated.

He saw a split second smile cross her face, but it was gone before he could read what it meant. "Because I wanted to. I didn't quit the order or anything, but I don't want to be the person they turn to first at every crisis."

She had stepped down… and had come to Antiva, on her own, to look for him. He didn't… he didn't want to trust it, so he went for an old wound instead.

"Won't Alistair miss you? Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay in Ferelden with him?"

"I assume he will miss me as much as I will miss him. No, that's not true of course, he will miss me more, but believe it or not my best friend wants me to do what makes me happy."

What makes her happy? Being here made her happy? He wanted to ask her, almost as much as he wanted to send her a sneer and walk out. He had settled here, he was making something with his life, her being here complicated things. It would probably make him feel things, things he had set aside, and how was he supposed to work with that distraction?

But how could he possibly send her away?

He hadn't even realized he had stood from the bed and began pacing until he felt her hand on his arm and saw that he was by to the table and half turned away from her on a return trip to the bed.

"I know you are probably going to say something along the lines of 'what could make you shirk your duty, since it has always been so important to you', but that is the point. It has been too important. I didn't think, didn't let myself think about it, it seemed only fair that I follow my duty the way I told so many others they must, but I am tired, Zevran. So very tired, and I will not give the Wardens every moment of the rest of my life."

He stared at her as she spoke then took a deliberate step back so that her hand slid away from him. He needed to think, but he couldn't help his next question. "Why not?"

She gave a humorless laugh and looked away from him, bitterness evident even as she set the fruit on the table and stood. "Because I have lost enough. Tamlen, my clan, even my best friend to the throne. The Wardens would have everything left of me. I have given enough. I will not spend the rest of the years I have left being crushed under a mantle of authority that I do not want. It is time for me to take control of my own life."

She shook her head and moved to the door and he studied the way her fingers gripped just a little too tightly into the wood even as she kept her face in its careful mask as she looked back to him. "I have told you why I am here. If you have any need of me please let me know, but… but for now it is probably best if you go."

He didn't know how to reply to what she had just told him, didn't know what he was supposed to do with it. It would be a strategically sound move to take her up on her offer of help, she was an excellent fighter after all and had a good mind for strategy, but he wasn't sure if it would be worth the trouble it would inevitably cause.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and started to the door, pausing as he reached her so he could look down at her.

She had her head tilted up to him, her expression carefully blank, and all he could think for a moment was that she looked exactly like he remembered. He had spent countless hours over the time they were together memorizing her. If he was honest, he spent countless hours even after they had parted remembering her, but he wasn't particularly honest and he had never been more thankful for that.

Andraste's ass he had missed her.

"What do you want from me?"

He hadn't meant to ask her that, had meant to leave, but his feet apparently weren't in the mood to obey. So he had asked, and then got to watch her features soften, the cracks in her mask widening a moment before she answered him.

"Only what you are willing to give."

He looked away with a huff of breath. He remembered saying the same thing to her on their first night together when she had asked him what he expected from them being together.

For a brief moment he thought of the time right after the Archdemon had been slain and everything had seemed ridiculously simple. If she had said that to him then he would have told her 'everything'.

But that was over a year ago, and he wasn't blinded by her or his supposed feelings anymore.

"And what would you do, Lyna, if I told you I wasn't willing to give anything? That I didn't want you here, didn't want your help?"

'Didn't want you' sat at the tip of his tongue, but that was a lie even he could not pull off. He was very sure he would want her until the day he died.

"I would leave, there is no point in staying where I am not wanted, but sending me away would be a mistake. I make a very good ally, and I'm willing to follow you anywhere."

He couldn't help the laugh that came out at her words, but he did manage to contain it into a single burst. "Anywhere? Ah, my dear Warden, you should be more careful with your words. There are placed even you would not go, yes?"

She gave a single shake of her head and looked away from him, her fingers flexing on the door. "I would rush head long at Fen'Harel himself if it meant I could stay at your side."

Her eyes widened at the words, or perhaps the fact that she had actually said them, and he laughed again.

This was a terrible idea, he was going to regret it, but there was no way he could simply ask her to leave, not when he had finally gotten another chance to see her.

He would worry about the consequences later.

"Who am I to turn away someone willing to take on the Dread Wolf? I'll be back tomorrow morning."

She nodded as he stepped out into the hall then shut the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Lyna was already dressed and down in the tavern part of the inn when Zevran showed up the next morning. He stood at the door a few moments watching as she shoveled a large forkful of eggs into her mouth, talking around them to Bennito as he blushed under her regard.

He couldn't help smiling at the image she made, dark blue eyes wide with amusement and hands waving even as she continued eating. "No, really, he thought pants were out to kill people! It took three days even after he knew it was a joke to convince him he didn't have to block the bottom of his door so they couldn't slip in and eat him."

The large innkeeper burst out a laugh as she spoke, and it shook Zevran from his distraction. Coming forward he waited till Bennito quieted before speaking up. "Are you ready?"

Her head whipped around and he was confronted with confusion and then pleasure as she realized who he was. "Zevran! Yes, yes." She scooped the remainder of the eggs into her mouth then stood, her cup in her hand. "Coffee." She stated, her smile widening. "I've never had it, but it's lovely."

He watched her finish it off before grabbing her weapons, and all he could think was that her and coffee seemed like a terrible mix. She didn't need more energy, if anything she needed less, but it wasn't his place to tell her so, so he simply nodded and forced a smile to his face. "I've never cared for it."

"Maybe you need to try Bennito's. I think it might be magic." She sent a wink and a wave to the man as she followed Zevran outside, her face tilting up to the sun as they stepped into it. "It's a nice day."

"Yes." He started walking, knowing she would follow, and missed the way she scowled at his back.

"So," she skipped a bit to catch up with him. "What are your plans for me today?"

He glanced down at her and knew, knew, that the shiny smile on her face was fake, but didn't let himself care. "I figured we would introduce you to the others I work with. Well, the rest of them. You've met Esta already."

She fell silent, thinking back, and when she spoke again her voice was more serious. "Ah, the woman from yesterday morning. She spoke to me after that Crow did. She seemed… nice."

He laughed at the reluctant description. "Liar. You thought she was pushy."

She rolled her shoulders in a shrug, her gaze moving off to the stalls that they were walking past. "She was clever about it at least."

Another pause passed between them as she thought over what she would say next and he found himself giving her the time to do so, slipping, unknowingly, back into old habits that he had learned at her side.

"She would be an information gather than," she finally said at length before glancing to him for confirmation. When he gave it she continued. "A smart choice. Older but still attractive, unassuming and almost motherly in her regard. She must be very good at her job."

"She is."

Lyna shot him a smile and tucked her hands behind her back, her fingers catching lightly at the wood of her bow. "You always were good at knowing what a person would be best at."

It would be easy, amazingly easy, to pretend that it was like it had once been between them. He could think of a thousand moments that they had walked side by side, words flowing between them, but she had always been leaned against him those times, or holding his hand, or brushing against his arm.

She wasn't touching him now. No, now there was a very deliberate space between them.

It was a stark reminder of the time lost between them.

He made himself smile at her and took a step closer so that their arms brushed as they walked. "Well, I have always said I am the best. This is simply more proof that it is true, yes?"

She took a step away from him, fingers reaching out to pass over the bright colors of a bolt of cloth as they walked by it and turned a corner, reminding him of her constant need to move, to touch, to interact. "I'm not answering that. Tell me about the others."

"There are only a few you need worry about knowing well," he stated and began to tick off the names as he said them to her.

There would be Nico of course, since he handled keeping track of supplies and reports. Though Zevran wasn't overly fond of the idea of him and Lyna meeting. Not because he had slept with them, but rather because they were too alike in their observations and regard, if not in personality. He feared what they might come up with if they had each other to feed off of.

Then there were the twins, Silvano and Tomasso, the healer and archer respectively. Those two he feared for a different reason. Not that he was willing to think on why. No, he didn't care that they had charming smiles and blue green eyes, or that they had perfected the just-so tilt of their heads in order to stare at women from under their lashes and a perfectly tousled lock of their brown hair.

Because it didn't matter. It didn't.

He forced himself to move on to Cara, with her dark eyes and clever tongue. She had been brought in for the same reason as the others, she wanted away from the Crows, but her talents with poison had tipped the balance in their favor more often than not.

And finally, Armond, wrinkled and grey as he was, but a magician with his hammer and forge. He could make anything from nothing, and as ragged and small as Zevran's group was nothing was often what they had.

He told her about various others that she might run into and need to know before finally coming to a stop as they entered a quieter part of the city. "There is one more person I think you will be very interested in meeting."

"Oh?"

"Our resident pick pocket and sneak. He has the most remarkable ability of getting in anywhere. I would be quite jealous if I wasn't so wonderful myself."

Lyna lifted a brow and Zevran felt his smile widen at the way she deliberately kept from agreeing with him. "He's name is Carman, he's twelve."

He watched as her face scrunched slightly in displeasure, and he knew exactly what she would say before she said it. "Don't bother saying he is too young, Warden. The Crows buy them much younger. He is lucky enough to be with us instead of them, yes?"

She opened her mouth to reply but seemed to think better of it. He was sure she was remembering his own stories about orphans and brothels and the gutter rats that hadn't even been as lucky as that. After a few moments she glanced around the street, noting the emptiness of it, before speaking again.

"About the warden thing, you can't call me that, Zevran. Not around anyone, not if I'm going to be helpful without the warden's coming down on me about 'not getting involved'."

It made sense, and his group did not need the extra attention having a warden would bring to them, but he couldn't give it to her that easily.

"So, who are you to be? A lone fighter lost from their clan and in hopes of finding adventure by teaming up with a dashing rogue?" He smiled slowly with his words, the sly tilted curve of his lips that usually had others blinking and blushing.

It only made Lyna look amused and had her voice warbling with humor. "Nothing so fanciful. Besides that would require that I fawn all over you and I have no desire to stroke your ego with my longing."

He almost made a joke about what she could stroke instead, but he didn't want them to be that comfortable with each other, being comfortable was dangerous, so instead he shrugged and started walking again. "Then make up what you will, and I will go along with it."

They walked for a few minutes longer in silence, following the turn of the road up until they left the market streets and were in the brothel district instead.

"Is this where you grew up," Lyna asked, her eyes skimming the near emptiness of the early morning streets, pausing as they found the lone patron taking their leave.

He didn't bother answering her, instead he watched as one of the patrons began to turn their way before grabbing her arm and tugging her into one of the tight alleys between the buildings and back to the end of it. Hearing footsteps getting closer he hooked his hands around her face and pressed his lips to hers.

It was supposed to be chaste, enough to not draw the attention of the Crow he had seen coming out of one of the buildings, a couple kissing in an alley was a common thing to see in the area, he had done it more than once here with others for the same reason, but her lips were warm and automatically opened to him, and her hands settled, uncertain, on his waist.

He couldn't help tightening his grip, his face tilting so that his mouth could settle more firmly, his tongue dipping in to tease over hers until she sighed through her nose, the soft warmth of it spreading over his cheek, and her fingers fisted against his armor.

He cursed himself and pulled back far enough that he could stare down at her. She stared back, her eyes wide and her lips still parted. Her vallaslin seemed to stand out above her skin in the dim light of the alley, and he had the most ridiculous urge to trace his lips along it.

"Zevran," Lyna started, the word unsure.

He found himself shaking his head and leaning back in to kiss her again. There was no preamble this time; he simply licked into her mouth as she tried to do the same to him. He dropped one of his hands to the small of her back, pulling her closer until their armor squeaked together in protest, and he could just start to torture himself with the press of her along his front.

She felt the same, smelled and tasted the same as well. As he nibbled at her bottom lip and captured her tongue again, he noticed that she made the same little moans and sighs that he heard every night in his sleep. He bit lightly at her lip again before soothing it with his tongue and had just pushed her back against the wall, just situated his leg between hers when she turned away, her forehead pressing into his shoulder, and told him to stop.

They didn't speak for a minute as they continued to grip each other, both unwilling it seemed to be the first to let go. Instead they let the alley be filled with nothing more than the sound of their uneven breathing, and the occasional shift of leather against leather. Finally, Lyna gave him a gentle push back.

"You're going to regret this if we keep going. We both are."

Her words, quiet as they were, did the job of snapping him back to the present and where and who they were. "It was all part of the plan, Warden," he said in a deliberately light voice. Dropping his hands from her, he reached just behind her head and pushed the switch that lay nestled in the crumbling stone and dead vines.

When the door opened behind Lyna and caused her to stumble back before catching herself, he couldn't help smiling darkly. Petty maybe, but he was still feeling too mixed up to not feel at least a little vindictive.

"Didn't want anyone suspecting why we came down here. I do it all the time." He took her arm and turned her to face the dark passage and the dying light that rested a ways down it.

"Secret passages?" Lyna squinted into the darkness before looking back at him, curious.

"Are essential in Antiva," he replied and lead her in before shutting the door behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

It was as if the kiss was simply forgotten by her as the door shut and the dull glow of a far off torch surrounded them. He could see the way her hands tightened into excited balls, and how her step started to bounce as she immediately started down the passage, her expression one of eager curiosity.

Watching her for a moment, he waited until she was nearly to a split in the passage before he spoke, his voice echoing strangely off the rock walls. "Do you even know where you're going?"

Lyna paused and looked back at him before letting out a laugh. "Good point. I got distracted." She stepped to the side, her back pressing lightly against the wall, and motioned for him to precede her. "After you."

He didn't bother meeting her smile, instead simply walking past her. He could hear her moving to follow, her steps erratic, and he imagined her pausing every few steps to take a quick and closer look at some piece of mold, or spider web, or torch.

"As smart as you are, Warden-"

"Lyna," she interrupted, and he mentally reminded himself that he needed to not use her title.

"As smart as you are, I don't think even you will be able to memorize the way through the tunnels right away. This should be no problem though, seeing as there will always be someone with you when you are coming and going."

"Someone with me? Why?"

He could practically feel her staring at his back, could picture her brows lowering over her eyes and her mouth setting in a mutinous line. She was ready to argue but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of trying to change his mind so he stopped and turned back to her instead.

"Think about it. You were the one who said you couldn't be known as the warden, yes? So that means you would be a stranger to me, to the whole group. What level of fool would I be if I let you have free run right away?"

He watched her think about it for a few seconds before starting to walk again, knowing she would answer eventually.

"Fine," she finally replied, her voice still annoyed, "So I have to have a keeper. You can at least tell me what it is exactly you all are doing. If nothing else I'm good enough to act like I don't know."

Reaching a long straightway, Zevran turned so he could walk backwards and talk, an easy smile tilting his lips. "What else? We are doing what we are good at. Some killing, some saving-"

"Saving?"

"If it can have a price put on it, mi bella, we can do it, so we kill, we save, we trade, and we find, among other things. But more than money it ruffles feathers, causes problems, puts a kink in the works."

She studied him as they continued walking, her hands folding lightly over her chest. "And what's the point of doing that?"

His smile widened and he turned back around to walk normally. "What's the point of anything I do? Care to take a guess?"

"Attention." He heard the laughter laced through her answer and turned down the final passageway.

"And plenty of it. From the right people of course."

"And who are the right people?"

He glanced back long enough to send her a wink and drew to a stop outside of a wooden door that divided the passage. "Ah, now isn't that always the question."

She was quiet as he fished out a key and set in into the lock. She stayed that way as he opened it and they stepped through into a short hall that ended at the opposite side in a stone door. She didn't speak again till he had locked the wooden door back, and when she did her voice was soft.

"Is this how it's going to be then?"

He looked back up at her as he put the key back into a pouch, his smile still easy. "What do you mean?"

"You're going to be charming and clever and never actually tell me anything."

He felt his expression falter as he made himself lean against the wall with his shoulder, his arms coming up in a mimic of hers. "What exactly do you want me to tell you?"

Lyna dropped her arms and took a step away from him to lean against the opposite wall.

"The truth. Something that doesn't involve some joke or cryptic response that I only half understand." She looked away a moment and he was left to stare at the curving point of her ear and the way some of her sandy blonde hair had come out of her tie to fall around it. "I just wonder how long it's going to be until…"

She trailed off and looked back at him again with a shrug.

He wanted to laugh, wanted to bury his face in his hands and simply give over to the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation of her being here and thinking to ask that. Instead, he straightened off the wall.

"Until what, Lyna? Until we can talk like we used to?" Zevran shook his head and started walking towards the stone door, not caring if she followed or not. "Until you can know all my secrets and plans? I thought you stopped caring about that when you decided to go to Vigil's Keep."

"You know why I had to go to Amaranthine, Zevran. The Grey Wardens-"

He laughed, the harsh sound of it grating at his throat even as it echoed around them. He didn't want to do this now, didn't want to do it at all, but he couldn't stand to listen to her talk about why she had to do what she did.

"I don't care about the Grey Wardens, Lyna." The words were bitter, emotion leaking through them despite his promise to himself that he wouldn't show any. He turned to look back at her, all traces of humor draining away as he glanced over her far too placating expression. "I don't care about why you had to go and lead them. All I know is that when push came to shove you decided it was more important than I was, than what was happening to me was."

"That's not true, I told you-"

It seemed it was his turn to do all the cutting off because he held up a hand to stop her words.

"Yes, you told me exactly what was going to happen. Exactly what you were going to do. You didn't even ask if I was alright with it. You decided it was before you even walked into the room that night. So no, I'm not making that mistake again. I'm not telling you how important something is, or why I need to do it because I don't want to deal with putting more trust into you than you are willing to live up to."

"Zevran."

He shook his head and went to unlock the stone door, the metal key grating loudly in the lock. "I'll take your help because it was offered, but this isn't like before. We aren't what we were, and you are crazier than I ever realized if you think we are."

"I'm not going anywhere, Zevran. I'm doing what I want to this time, which is being here, with you."

He didn't want her honesty. Didn't want the words that would have made thousands of differences half a year ago but now simply made his hand clench, too tight, around the key he held. So he forced himself to smile, his working smile, his charming smile, and used the tone that meant everything was fine even as she frowned at him. "We shall see, yes?"


	4. Chapter 4

They didn't speak again until they made it to the final door before the common area that made up his group's safe house. When they reached it, Zevran set his hand to the wood, stopping Lyna's forward progress.

"If we don't know each other, why are you here? Why would I agree to work with you?"

"Can't think of a good story yourself?"

The question had no heat behind it, simply her usual curiosity, but Zevran felt himself bristle with defensiveness anyway. "I don't doubt my ability to create an interesting lie, Warden, but Nico will know it for what it is if I come up with your story."

Lyna canted her head slightly even as one of her brows lifted. "You two are close?"

"Are you asking if we are in a relationship?" The word 'relationship' sounded vile on his tongue.

"No," he stated before she could reply. "I have learned my lesson with such things."

She gave a slight nod, her face remaining passive when he offered no further explanation. She reached up to tap the door near where his hand was still pressed. "So, I'll come up with something."

"What?"

"I don't know yet," she replied and tugged at the door till he relented and stepped away. "I'll have something before they ask though. I always do." She smiled with her words, and he resisted the urge to sigh.

"Look, I know you don't trust me, Zevran, not when it comes to you, or why I'm here, or thousands of other reasons that I'm sure you won't tell me about, but this. This you should know I always do well."

"Lie? Yes, you might even be better than me."

She paused then opened the door and passed through, letting the comment go without response.

He could hear laughing even before they rounded the corner in the hallway and stepped into the open space that was filled with tables and food barrels and crates of supplies. Dotted around the items were his people who all turned to look at them as they entered.

He saw the confusion then curiosity even as Lyna lifted her arms slightly and turned in a tight circle as they came to a stop.

"Oh! This is even better than I thought it might be. Bigger definitely."

She smiled brightly and focused on the table where Esta sat. "It's you. I remember you. It's so good to see you again!" The words were light, friendly, as she reached out a hand to grasp the older woman's.

He watched, fascinated as he had always been at her changes, while she beamed at Esta before moving to the others, shaking hands and rattling on with unimportant words and greetings that soon began to bleed into each other.

Nico extracted himself from the group as soon as he received his own hand shake and came to stand next to the table where Zevran had stopped. "So you've gotten us a new member?"

Zevran gave a distracted nod as Lyna moved to Carman and held out a hand to him just as she had Esta, Nico, and Armond. Seeing his blushing hesitation, she leaned forward and whispered something in his ear that had the youth giving a vigorous nod before grasping her hand and pumping it a few times as if he was agreeing to some pact.

She would have no problem on that front it would seem.

"Do you know her?"

He turned his head to reply but stopped when Lyna's laugh burst out loud enough to echo around the room. Refocusing his attention he watched as Tomasso finished saying something, then bent Lyna's knuckles over his hand and kissed them.

"Si usted está tratando de seducirme usted va a tener que hacer algo mejor que un idioma que usted piensa que no entiendo y sonrisas bonitas," she replied, still laughing, and Tomasso's grin widened.

"You speak Antivan."

"I speak Antivan. Mostly. I'm a bit rusty." Lyna smiled as she spoke, and Zevran found himself gritting his teeth as he remembered their "lessons" in his language when they traveled together.

"She speaks several languages. It's one of the reasons why I brought her here. We always need to be prepared for anything, yes?" He forgot about Nico's question as he moved closer to the group proper and waited until the archer dropped his ex-lover's hand.

"You did mention you speak others, didn't you?"

"I did," she answered without missing a beat, and began to tick off the number on her fingers. "Common, Antivan, Elvish, Qunlat, Some Dwarven and Riviani, and I'm hoping to learn Tevene and Orlesian someday also.

Silvano sidled up beside his brother and offered his own kiss to her now free hand. "Aren't you clever."

"I do try to be."

Zevran waited a moment for the others to decide if Lyna was being funny, which he knew she wasn't , before turning back to Nico even as he spoke to the room in general. "She knows different languages, seems charming enough, and can shoot a bow and use daggers, or so she says. She also wants to go against the Crows. It would be silly to not at least see what she could do, no?"

Nico and Armond nodded agreeably. Cara seemed decidedly less sure, her black eyes rolling.

"Anyone can tell us they know how to shoot a bow, Zevran," she bit out, her hands settling on her hips as she sent him a look that stated she thought he hadn't been thinking properly. "Did you actually see her in action?"

Yes, in a thousand different situations. She's probably saved my life more times than I could actually keep track of.

But the thoughts were held in his head and he gave an irreverent shrug, his lips tipping into an amused grin. "I didn't , mi bella. Where would I have done so that would be better than here? That way we can all see how well she does."

He moved to her and set a friendly arm around her shoulders before turning his attention to Lyna, offering her a mocking half bow and falling into his usual role easier than he expected he would. "If you're willing to give us a show."

Lyna didn't look at him, rather she kept her gaze on Cara. He could feel the tension in Cara's arms as the steady, assessing eyes glanced over her. She had never been one to trust easily, she had no more reason to than any of them did, but she was prickly with her distrust.

Finally, Lyna looked away and drew her bow off her shoulder. "Of course. I'm Dalish after all, so I have no doubt in my skill."

Tomasso made a dramatic gesture with his hand before hooking it around her waist to pull her towards the training room. "You, lovely Lyna, may be a woman after my own heart."

"He likes women who are sure of themselves. We both do," Silvano added from her other side before all three of them disappeared through one of the rooms many archways.

The others followed more slowly, Zevran let himself lag behind them as they walked through the hallway and into the training room. Target dummies were set against the back wall, their over-sized torso's packed between sacks of sand and bales of hay, while cabinets and caches of weapons and armor lined the rest of the available walls. Lyna stopped in the middle of the room with the twins, then waited for the others to form a loose circle around her before taking out an arrow and setting it to fire at the dummy that sat in the center of the wall.

Zevran stayed back, leaning against the wall near the door, content to let the others assess the skills that he already knew were there.

"Tell me Lyna, what clan do you hail from?" The question was Nico's, his serious face passive as Lyna let her arrow fly even as she glanced at him.

"The Sabre clan, though I would be surprised if you had heard of them."

"Do you have family there," he continued, probably not content with the short, unhelpful, answer she had given.

"I consider my whole clan my family. It is how the Dalish usually are."

"But what of parents or siblings, or perhaps a husband? You don't seem too young to marry."

Lyna set another arrow, her eyes still on Nico and a faint smile graced her lips, a defense against showing her feelings. "My parents are dead, as is my intended. What do you want to learn exactly? Whether I might run off in hopes of being reunited with someone?" She made a scoffing sound that seemed to grate against her throat and fired the arrow so that it landed nearly side to side with the first. "That is not something you need to worry about."

"So you've lost your family and your love, so you've come to try and what? Find glory?" This came from Cara, the words harsher than they needed to be.

Lyna laughed and fired another arrow. "So you all are trying to distract me. Alright, I can play that game. I have no need for glory." She readied another arrow and Zevran could just see the almost invisible clinch of her fingers around the bow string. "I don't want it. I simply want to do what is right. I have had run-ins with the Crows and I found it bothersome. The best way to solve that is by finding people I can work with who are facing them head on."

She loosed her arrow and followed it quickly with another before she dropped her arms and walked forward to collect the ones she had shot.

Armond called his question after her. "How can you have had issues with the Crows? You are what, seventeen?"

"Nineteen, but if you are going by experiences to age me then I would say I'm damn near a hundred."

"Everyone here has issues with the Crows, that's a simple fact," Esta stated, voice curious. "What did they do that you want to go against them so badly?"

Lyna dropped the arrows in the quiver, her expression still pleasant, but when she spoke her words were distracted, as if she didn't know how to say them. "They took something from me."

"And you want it back?"

Lyna laughed at that and Zevran could see Cara narrow her eyes.

"Oh, no," the warden finally replied, moving back to everyone. "I have already found it. I just want to make sure that, should the chance arise, they can't take it again."

Zevran damn near smirked at the statement.

"This is stupid," Silvano interjected, hands moving to pull his dagger from his belt. "We don't need to know how well she can shoot a target. We need to know how well she can fight."

He lunged at her, dagger flashing in an arch that she was just able to block with the shaft of the arrow she still carried in her hand. The wood of it cracked under the force of Silvano's dagger, but she parried to the side and set the near ruined arrow in her bow, firing.

It landed in the wall near Zevran's head with a dull thunk.

Everyone froze.

Lyna was the first to move, her bow going across her shoulders before she spoke again.

"I don't need to kill any of you," she stated, voice amused as she looked to each of them. "I don't even need to make sure I survive if I'm deceiving you. I simply need to make sure he dies." She pointed to Zevran, eyes glancing over him as if his life was inconsequential to her. "He's the leader. The reason you are all here? That makes him the weak point, so don't insult me with pressing questions and halfhearted attack attempts like I'm not bright enough to know what you are trying to do. I like to think I am, and I like to think you all are better than that."

And with that she walked out of the room and back to the common area, leaving the silence to press down around them.

Carman was the first to break it, his voice small and too young for such things.

"Well, I like her." And then he was off and disappearing after her.

The others followed after Carman, Zevran falling in behind yet again, until they could see her seated at one of the tables, her hands folded under her chin.

"Kicking me out?"

No one answered, instead Armond went to her and lifted a hand to run over the curve of her bow where it leaned against her chair.

"Good wood, strong build, but it's too big for you, and you draw it as if you were trained on something smaller and quicker."

"I was."

"I can get you one that is better suited."

"I don't want a different one."

"But-"

"No." The word was said too fast, too loudly, and everyone could see how her hand reached out to grip and tighten around the wood. Lyna seemed to take a long breath before speaking again. "I appreciate the offer, I do, but I have no need for a different bow, and I do not want one. Thank you though."

And then she was smiling, bright and carefree as if nothing that had happened so far had any effect on her, but her hand remained on her bow.

Tamlen's bow.

Zevran remembered her telling him about it well.

He shook it off and made a point to move closer to the group. "If that is all settled I say we talk about actual jobs, you all know how much I enjoy good assassinations."

They all turned to him, expectant, worries about the new woman, temporarily at least, forgotten.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come now, Adela, we both know you can offer me more than that."

The words were said with an easy smile as his hands settled on the hips of the woman in front of him.

"And what's in it for me?" Adela asked, her own overly done up face stretching into a matching smile.

She must have been beautiful once. It was easy to see in the curve of her lips as they lifted, and the bright green of her eyes, but her face gave testament to the fact that she had been used too often and too hard, and the makeup was an attempt to hide the wear. Unfortunately, up close it did little more than accentuate the lines and hollows that carved their way around her features.

Zevran reached for a pouch at his belt and pulled it off to lift and jingle between them. "I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement."

Adela stuck out her lower lip in a half formed pout before running a finger slowly over the exposed skin of his arm. "I was hoping we could come up with a better bargain than simply money."

After a moment's pause, his smile tilting slightly in the silence, he caught at her hand with his free one and lifted it to press a kiss to the inside of her wrist. "Ah, my lovely Adela, you know I don't mix business with pleasure. No matter how tempting the offer might be."

He grinned more widely and kissed her palm as she giggled like a girl half her age and fluttered her fingers against his cheek.

"That's too bad. I seem to remember that you are quite skilled."

"Well, there is always another time when both of us have a few free moments, yes?" He let go of her and held the pouch of gold up again. "But for now I still have the money to offer, and I perish the thought of leaving without your promise of help."

She eyed him a moment, her gaze turning calculating, before taking the offered money and tucking it into her bodice. "Why do you want my help with this anyway?"

Adela was no fool, and Zevran would be the first to admit that that streak of intelligence was one of the reasons he had sought her out.

He saw no reason to lie about that now.

"Because Enric likes to drink and he likes women, specifically you, and he gets loose tongued with both. On top of that you listen well and have a good memory. I'd be a fool to try asking anyone else when I have the best right in front of me."

"Flattery," she sniffed and glanced away a moment before finally giving a single nod of her head. "Fine, but if I get killed, I'm haunting you."

A laugh burst from him at the words and he leaned in to press a pleased kiss to both her cheeks. "Nothing will happen to you, _mi amor_ , I wouldn't allow it."

Her cheeks pinkened at the kisses and she waved him off before stepping away and back towards the lights of the main street. "You're lucky you're pretty, Arainai. I wouldn't be nearly so agreeable otherwise."

"You remember what-" he started, and stopped when she waved at him again.

"I remember. Now leave before you get us both in trouble."

He sent her an exaggerated bow then watched her disappear around the corner of the building before heading in the opposite direction.

The women from the brothels were usually mostly occupied by this time of night, so he only had to decline a handful of shouted offers before he made it to the alley he was supposed to meet Cara and Carman in. Reaching it, he saw them both already leaning against one of the walls, their hushed words reaching him in incoherent mumbles.

Cara looked up as he got closer to them, her black eyes curious. She had been sent to try and get information out of some of the higher end brothel clients, and her outfit and makeup were lavish to match the job.

It would have made her even lovelier than she usually was, but her immediate scowl ruined the effect. "You're late"

"You can't rush the types of results I get, _mi bella_ , now stop your frowning and tell me that you got the information you went looking for."

The scowl didn't disappear completely, but she gave a reluctant nod. "Of course I did, the question is did you?"

"You doubt me?" Zevran made a tsking noise and reached out to tug at a strategically placed fall of her hair. "You should know better by now."

He turned to look at the boy that was bouncing near his shoulder, his mousy brown hair dancing in front of his eyes. "And you? You didn't let me down did you?"

"No, Zev," Carman nearly shouted, his hands clapping together in excitement as words continued to fall from him. "I did just what you said. They didn't even notice me. And look!" His hands disappeared then came up again as he spoke, a small pile of money pouches nestled in them. "I got all these, I thought they might help."

Zevran studied the pouches, making a show of considering them before narrowing his eyes at the still bouncing child. "Who did you take them from?"

"Not the ladies. You told me not to. Just the men who were too distracted to notice, I promise."

The boy was good, Zevran would give him that, and he had a moment of remembering his own time as a child and how he rarely had anything to be so unrestrained in his excitement about.

If nothing else, at least he could give Carman that.

"Very good, Carman. You're right, they'll come in handy, and why don't you keep one for yourself for doing such a fine job of it."

A grin nearly split Carman's face before he handed over all but the smallest of pouches. "Can I get something for Lyna?"

Ignoring the annoyed snort from Cara, Zevran smiled at the boy before tucking the pouches away. "Why do you want to get something for her?"

"Because she gives me candy, and… and just because." A bright flush covered Carman's face as he mumbled the last part and Zevran had to hold back a laugh. She had only been with them a couple of weeks, and the boy was already smitten. "Be careful with that crush, _mijo_ , we don't know how long Lyna will be here."

"Or if she is planning on stabbing us in the back," Cara added, disdain dripping from her words.

When Carman frowned and looked down, worry clouding his eyes, Zevran shot her a scolding look. "Why is it that you are so against her exactly?"

"Because I don't trust her. She came out of nowhere and just magically wants to help us? Who does that? And no one is that friendly, Zevran. No one who doesn't want something anyway."

For all the issues that he and the warden had, he didn't want his group doubting her intentions. It wouldn't help anything.

"You're too jaded, Cara. Not everyone is out to get you."

"I also don't like how she looks at you, like she just wants you to notice her. Or how you look at her when you don't think we're paying attention."

"Afraid she'll take me away from you and I'll break your heart, _mi bella_?"

"Not mine."

She was talking about Nico, they both knew it. But she didn't understand that Nico and he both knew exactly where they stood and what was and wasn't offered, and she really didn't understand what was between Lyna and himself. How could she?

So he simply shook his head and let out a halfhearted laugh. "You worry too much."

A noise at the end of alley had them all glancing up in time to see three figures stumbling towards them, a bright song filling the air around them.

As if they had something to celebrate.

As if they were drunk.

Not the worst of covers.

As they got closer Zevran could pick out the twins on either side, with Lyna tucked between them.

And then he noticed that Tomasso's right eye was nearly swollen shut, and Lyna was sporting a busted lip.

"What happened," he spit out, stepping forward to reach out and grip Lyna's chin, his eyes moving over the red cut in her lip and what looked to be the beginnings of a rather impressive black eye.

"Lyna is amazing, that is what happened," Silvano offered helpfully.

Zevran didn't hear the reply at first, distracted as he was by the warden's bruising, and simply continued to tilt Lyna's head around so he could assess her for more damage. "Are you alright?"

"Of course." Lyna smiled with the words then winced as the movement pulled at the cut and caused it to start leaking blood again. "Do you want to kiss it and make it better?" she asked, her voice serious.

The question brought him back to himself, and he dropped his hand away from her while making sure not to look to where he knew Cara would again be frowning. "What happened exactly?"

"The residents of the house Silvano was breaking into came back early."

"And?"

"And," Tomasso replied, cutting Lyna off. "Silvano wasn't back out yet. There were three of them, and Lyna, without even hesitating, threw aside her weapons, came out of our hiding spot, stumbled up to them like she was drunk, and punched one of them in the face."

Zevran blinked and looked back to where Lyna was obviously trying not to smile. "You started a fist fight?"

"Well I couldn't let them go inside and find Silvano could I?"

"So," Tomasso continued. "I rushed out to help her and we bought him some time."

And I got out, with all the information we needed I might add," Silvano put in.

"You could have been killed."

The question was to the group in general, but his gaze stayed locked on the small woman in front of him.

"Could have." Lyna wasn't even trying to hide the smile now, a small bead of blood welling up on her lip with it. "Wasn't."

He wanted to be angry with her, wanted to shout that she couldn't just start fights in strange countries with people who most usually went around armed with at least half a dozen knives, but she looked so pleased with herself that all he could do was sigh and shake his head.

He hadn't forgotten how much she seemed to enjoy fights.

"Don't be so reckless."

"When have you cared about recklessness?" she asked, genuine confusion coloring her question.

When it involved her being reckless without him seemed to be the answer, not that he would say so.

Luckily, Silvano saved them from the silence that might have followed by scooping Lyna up and spinning her around until she laughed with it, and Zevran was annoyed for a whole new reason.

"And now I have a hero, and I think she deserves a drink. Let me take you out, pretty Lyna, and thank you properly."

"Who am I to turn down someone who calls me their hero?" The words were laughed out and breathless as he set her back on her feet and offered her a smacking kiss.

Without waiting for Zevran to tell them differently, Silvano stated that he would have his information written out for everyone in the morning, and all three were offering goodbyes before disappearing out of the alley.

The silence of their leaving settled back over the area, and Zevran could practically feel the disapproval radiating off of Cara.

"I don't like it," she ground out.

He couldn't find it in himself to disagree, though he doubted it was for the same reasons.


	6. Chapter 6

Silvano was true to his word, and Zevran was greeted at the meeting house by a stack of papers and a far too brightly smiling elf.

"This has their next targets? You're sure?"

"And how much each is bidding on top of the contract price itself. I think we can offer them better deals, don't you?" Silvano continued to smile as he spoke and fell into step with Zevran as they made their way through the halls.

"Or offer the targets a chance to turn the tables," Zevran said almost to himself as he studied the information. After a few moments he handed a couple of the papers back. "You and Tomasso go and try to meet with these marks… Take Lyna with you also, she would do well with Lord Adamo."

"Can't," Silvano stated as he took the papers then gave a shrug when Zevran sent him a questioning glance. "She's helping Esta today. Something about getting information from Cantu."

It took a moment to place the name, but when the image of a hulking lordling came to his mind Zevran couldn't help making a face. The man was foul.

"What information is Esta hoping to get?"

"How should I know? When has Esta ever told me anything?"

Zevran conceded the point as they finally reached the main room. Nico and Esta were sitting at the table, laughing at some missed joke while Lyna sat on a stool nearby, her head turned up to Tomasso as he did something to her face.

He stopped himself from frowning at Lyna's back as he took in the simple red dress she was wearing. The side laces of it were open enough to show the creamy white of her underdress and her sleeves were pushed up to her elbows to help with the heat that still beat down across the city.

She also had her hair down and combed so the golden brown locks of it fell smoothly to just below her shoulders.

"So tell me," he said, forcing the words to sound easy. "Why are we dressing our Dalish friend up?"

Esta turned from Nico to send Zevran an amused smile. "I have heard a rumor that Baron Cantu is trying to work out a deal with the Crows for an assassination. We need information on who it could be if we are to offer our own services to the targeted party. Lyna offered to help."

"She's brand new to Antiva, don't you think you or Cara would be better suited to learning things?"

He heard Lyna shift on her stool before Tomasso remarked for her to be still, but kept his attention on Esta, who was tilting her head side to side as if she were weighing options.

"We could try to do it, but he wouldn't give either of us the time of day. We're too old, though Cara only just. Lyna has a much better chance of getting him alone and drunk and talking."

He didn't like it, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

Tomasso announced to the room in general that he was done and Lyna turned to look towards Zevran, who was more than a little taken aback upon seeing her face.

Her vallaslin was gone, the dark lines of them hidden behind what Zevran could only assume was some sort of theater paint that Tomasso had.

It made her look different, and he realized suddenly that he had grown as fond of her tattoos as he had the rest of her features. Even with makeup added to her eyes the dark blue of them did not seem as bright, and her face seemed too thin without the curves and lines to fill it out.

She looked young, which wasn't saying much since she was young and she had never looked particularly old, but she looked too young. She remind him of the giggling girls that would blush and talk behind their hands when an older man walked by. The same girls who had no sense of self-preservation when it came to flirting or the silken lies men told. The girls who were eaten up by those same men if they didn't realize they needed to run back to the equally silly boys they grew up with.

Cantu would love her.

Zevran could easily picture the slick-tongued man who wore too much cologne as he stood around at parties with heavily made up, hollow eyed, teen girls clinging to his arm.

Someone who looked as Lyna did now? He wouldn't be able to resist.

"What do you think?" Lyna's question pulled him from his thoughts and he tucked his hands behind his back as she stood from her stool then made a skip-like walk over to stand before him. Leaning forward, she placed a single hand lightly on his chest as she let her eyes go wide and her expression sweetly innocent.

"Do I look the part?"

The question was said a little breathlessly, the eager tone of it making it seem as if nothing else mattered so much as his answer, and a memory came to him unbidden. He had seen this act before, countless times, in her dealings with the nobility of Ferelden who loved nothing more than being fawned over; it had only ever been directed at him once.

"Where did you learn to act? I don't suppose you had theaters out in the woods."

Zevran watched as Lyna looked up from the arrow in her lap and focused on him. She had been sitting near the fire to best use its light as she sharpened the heads of her arrows, and the shadows it cast around her made it so that he couldn't read her expression, but he guessed it would be one of confusion.

"What do you mean," she asked, the confusion he had guessed at clear in her voice.

Zevran laughed and pushed himself further up on his pillow so that he could sit leaning against it. "Don't act like you don't know what I mean, cariño."

He could make out the flash of her teeth in a smile before she set the arrow aside and stood up. She waited to answer him, instead taking a moment to stretch her arms over her head and distract him with the way the hem of her sleep shirt rose high over her bare thighs.

Finally, she dropped her hands and rolled her shoulders in a shrug as she bent to pick up the pile of arrows she had been working on. "I don't know, I haven't really thought about  
it. When I was little the other children and I would play games that involved acting, maybe that helped."

"What types of games?"

She shrugged again as she settled the arrows into the quiver against the wall. "Heroes rescuing the fair maiden from the evil villain, the same as most children play I'm sure." She paused and he watched as she smiled again, amused by some thought. "Though our heroes were Dalish hunters, and our maidens were fair elven ladies, and our villains were dirty shems, of course."

"Of course."

He waited as she walked over to him, her hands tucking in front of her as she looked him over.

"And what part did you like to play, my lovely Warden?"

"I never really cared," she replied, then crawled onto the bed so she could sit beside him. "Which meant of course that I was usually the dirty shem or the elven maiden, depending on who else was there."

"You were a hopeless elven maiden?"

Her smile was bright a moment before she leaned closer to him and ran a hand lightly over his chest.

"Oh yes," she pressed into him as she spoke, her fingers coming up to tap over his chest as she smiled a moment before her expression turned somehow innocent and her eyes become large.

"I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't found me. Thank you, my hero."

He couldn't help laughing at the way her hands gripped into his shirt and she bit her lip before looking demurely away.

"I wish there was some way I could thank you."

"As… interesting as we could make that, it seems a bit wrong, yes?"

She leaned in further and kissed his cheek. "Yes."

"You never wanted to play the hero?"

"Being the hero was never something I cared about."

"And yet here you are, well on your way to becoming one."

Lyna rolled her eyes, settling away from him before replying. "Apparently. But don't I need a distressed elven maiden then?"

He grabbed at her hand and brought it to his lips for a moment before replying, humor tingeing his words. "I happen to be a most excellent actor myself. I can be your damsel if you  
like."

"You're kidding right?"

"Not at all, Warden." He dropped her hand and pushed off the pillow so he could take his turn at leaning into her. "I am in most desperate need of rescuing, and only a beautiful, powerful, clever grey warden can help me."

Lyna laughed and shoved at his chest, pushing him back into the pillow as she muttered something about him being ridiculous. Zevran started to say something else, but the words disappeared from his tongue as he watched the laughter die in her eyes and her gaze go distant. Lifting a hand, he brushed the back of his fingers over her cheek before cupping his hand around the lower part of her ear.

"Ah, mi amor, where did you go?"

She shook her head and focused back on him, her smile soft in the shadows that surrounded them. "Nowhere, I was just thinking… " She stopped, her own hand coming up in a mirror of his against his face. She stared at him a little too long, the blue of her eyes moving over him as if she was trying to memorize something.

When he shifted, uncomfortable with the regard, she focused back on his eyes, her smile widening. "I know, I do that too much sometimes, but I want you to know, I would absolutely  
come to save you… should you ever need it."

His mind automatically went to a joke, but when he noticed a flush working its way over her cheeks the idea of saying it melted away. Instead, he kissed her, a hard press of lips that had her responding immediately, her mouth warm against his.

After a minute he pulled away, watching as she blinked open her eyes and smiled widely at him. He wondered at it a moment, still unused to such simple pleasure at merely being with  
him.

"I will be sure to keep that in mind."

Somehow her smile grew larger and she scratched her fingernails lightly against the skin of his face before pulling her hand away. "Good. Are we going to have sex now?"

"You are reading my thoughts exactly," he replied, amused as he was sure she wanted him to be at her bluntness, and moved his hands to her arms so he could pull her over him and kiss her again.

He pushed the memory away, annoyed at the way it had overlaid itself with the present and made him want to laugh and play along. Instead, he sent her a tilted grin, his gaze becoming lazy and disinterested as he made a point to check her from head to toe.

"Not bad, my friend. You have the makings of a very good actress. The count always did have a weakness for maidens. Especially ones who seem in distress."

He watched her expression turning guilty as she dropped her eyes and flushed, the bright red of it just peaking out from under the makeup and turning her cheeks pink. No doubt she was remembering the same thing he was.

"Well done indeed," he murmured so only she could hear shot him an unreadable look before plastering an expectant grin on her face and turning back to the others.

"Do you think I pass the test, Esta?"

"I think he won't be able to resist you," the older woman replied as she stood from the table.

"Maybe Zevran's right," Silvano put in as he went to help his brother put his things away. "We don't want Lyna trapped in that great oaf's estate and in over her head."

"When did I become so unable to protect myself?" Lyna laughed with the question and brought her hands up to fist on her hips in a mocking attempt to look stern. "I can fight my way out of things well enough, and if need be I can sleep with him. It's just sex. It's not as if I haven't had it before."

"That man wouldn't know what sex was if it was given to him on a silver platter," Nico bit out, his expression dark. "What that man does is closer to torture. He likes them young so he can break them, and make no mistake, girl, he would relish breaking you. You don't want to get alone in a house with him, not without a sure way out."

He and Lyna stared at each other a , she moved closer to rest a friendly hand on his arm.

"I can take care of myself, Nico. I promise."

She sounded sure of herself, but then she usually did. It was all part of the act.

Nico simply frowned before waving a hand that had her moving back. "Just be sure that Esta can see where he takes you."

"Of course."

Zevran clinched his hands in annoyance at the words. Placating, she was always so placating, and people never failed to go along with it.

"If you are insisting on doing this you need to go." He practically barked it out, the tone harsher than he had meant it. "I'd rather know sooner than later if you are going to get yourself killed."

Both women stared at him, annoyance clear in their features, before simply walking past him and out of the room.

He probably deserved that.

Worry settled in his gut the second Lyna was no longer in front of him, and he found himself spinning on his heels to follow them.

"Lyna," he called at her retreating back and waited until she turned to face him, a brow raised as she stopped by the door at the opposite end of the hall.

"What?"

"Just…" He trailed off, the words sticking in his throat till he thought he might choke on them. This had been a mistake. Coming after her, calling out her name while Esta, and he was sure at least Nico, looked on was the wrong thing to do.

"Just be careful."

It was the safest, and easiest, response he could think of, and he figured that she would nod and tell him not to worry the same way she had the others. But instead she smiled. Her smile. The one that was wide, and easy, and pleased, and never failed in working its way past whatever wall he had built up to let him know that she understood completely.

He remembered when he would have done anything to make that smile come to her face.

"If only so I can see you frown at me again."

And then they were gone and he was left staring at where they had been.


End file.
